Got to love Jets coach Claude Noel, who criticized after his team’s listless effort against the Panthers last night. The Jets were coming off two pretty good wins since the All-Star break, a shootout win over Philly and an OT win over Tampa, but without leading goal scorer Evander Kane (another concussion victim) they’ve scored just four goals in regulation over their last five games.

“Do I like the one goal we get every game? No,” said Noel. “Would I Iike to see it change? Yes. Do I coach that way? No. That’s what we have, but there’s still a way to win the games. We don’t have (Sidney) Crosby or (Evgeni) Malkin. We’ve got what we’ve got.

“Our team right now can’t give up 20 minutes of free freakin’ play and expect you’re gonna be able to win the game.”

Kris Versteeg said he still felt terrible after the game but the win was a pretty good remedy. He got a great screen from Tomas Kopecky on his first-period power-play goal.
“That’s what we need,” Versteeg said. “You keep looking at the standings, which I do, every day you want to see where you are, you want to see where other teams are and obviously you want to play in these type of games because of the severity of the points. We know what’s at stake every game and we’ve got to start putting a long winning streak together instead of winning one and losing one here. We’re going to have to be consistent in our winning ways going down the stretch.”
Scott Clemmensen, starting for the seventh time in nine games with Jose Theodore still sidelined with a knee injury, stopped 20 shots and improved to 5-1-3 in his last nine games.
“It’s never going to be easy in this league, especially against these teams that are fighting for the division win, like the Jets here tonight,” Clemmensen said. “We’re not going to come out here and blow anyone away, but it’s nice when it does happen. A win is a win.”
The victory also did wonders for Panthers coach Kevin Dineen’s cold. His voice is practically gone.
“It’s amazing, you move to Florida, you figure all this warm weather, I’ve gotten more colds in the last six months than I’ve ever had,” Dineen said. “But I tell you, a game like tonight makes you feel a lot better.
“There was a lot of battle out there by our players. I was very proud of them.”

Yes, I agree. Tonights game against the Bolts will say a lot about our second half. I truly wish our men Godspeed. As fans we wish the team all the best, and I am pretty sure that they want to bust a gut to deliver this year to finally get us off of the schnide.

I don’no, but to a small extent they do remind me of the ‘75 and ‘76 Islanders. Players with heart but still lacking the talent, knowing full well that the future will be bringing the talent that they need.

HARVEY FIALKOV, a tennis-playing sportswriter who grew up in Long Island following the dynastic Islanders, is the new Panthers beat writer for the Sun Sentinel and looking forward to writing about the best professional sports team in Broward County.